Punjab Elections: How did Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf issue tickets?

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has released the list of candidates for Punjab Assembly elections for 285 constituencies out of 297 constituencies while the names of 12 candidates have not been decided yet.

Senior PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry told Independent Urdu that 60 percent of the list includes youth and 15 percent women. Among the six former members of the Muslim League-Q who have been issued tickets are Chaudhry Parvez Elahi and his son Monis Elahi.

Fawad Chaudhry says that the majority of the candidates in this list are those who have already contested on the PTI ticket.

Fawad Chaudhry also said that those aspiring ladies and gentlemen who were not given tickets by the party will be accommodated in the local government elections.

However, after the distribution of party tickets, there is uneasiness in some circles of PTI and objections are also being raised on the distribution.

Independent Urdu contacted an important leader of the Insaaf Student Federation who said on condition of anonymity that the final decision was taken to give him and his 10 colleagues tickets for the provincial assembly a day ago, but then some seniors The party leader met Imran Khan after which the names of five candidates including him were removed from the list on Thursday morning.

The said leader said that he will definitely meet Imran Khan personally in the coming days and record his protest as he has been associated with the party for the past decade.

A closer look at the list released by PTI shows that PTI has retained most of the same candidates in the seats it won in 2018.

• PP 03 Abbas Bukhari, dear friend of PTI leader Zulfi Bukhari from Attock.
• PP 14 from Rawalpindi Raja Basharat who was Law Minister, PP 24 from Chakwal Hafiz Amar Yasir who was a former provincial minister. PP 17 Fayyazul Hasan Chauhan from Rawalpindi who has been the Provincial Information Minister.
• Fauzia Bahram has been given ticket from PP 23 Chakwal. Fawzia Bahram is the dear friend of Senator Palusha Khan of the People’s Party and has contested several times on the ticket of the People’s Party and has also been elected as a member of the Provincial Assembly twice.
• From PP 32 Gujarat, former federal minister Chaudhry Monis Elahi, who is currently in Spain, has been given a ticket, while from PP 34 Gujarat, former Chief Minister and Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervez Elahi has been given a ticket.
• Ali Afzal Sahi, son of former Speaker Punjab Assembly Afzal Sahi and son-in-law of Chief Justice Lahore High Court Amir Bhatti, has been given ticket by PTI from PP 97 Faisalabad while his father has been given ticket from PP 98 Faisalabad.
• From PP 107 Faisalabad, former President of Pakistan Peoples Party Punjab, Rana Aftab Ahmed Khan was given ticket. Rana Aftab Ahmad Khan was a big name in Pakistan Peoples Party. He has been elected member of Punjab Assembly in the past. He was also one of the closest associates of Ms. Benazir Bhutto but joined the PTI before the 2018 elections. He contested the election from the same constituency but did not win.

• PP 122 Ashafa Riaz Fathiana gets ticket from Toba Tek Singh. Ashfa Riaz Fatiana has been a provincial minister from QL during the Musharraf era, while her husband Riaz Fatiana has been winning elections as a Muslim League-Nawaz, Muslim League Q and Independent. He has been a provincial and federal minister for several times from different political parties, while he has also won several elections as an independent candidate.
• Ghulam Bibi Bharwana who was elected Member of Punjab Assembly in 2002 and Member of National Assembly in 2013 has been given ticket from PP 126 Jhang.
• PTI Lahore president Sheikh Imtiaz has been given ticket from PP 155 Lahore.
• Most of the candidates from Lahore are the same who have already contested on PTI ticket from their constituencies. Among them are Mian Mehmood-ul-Rashid, Mian Aslam Iqbal and Dr. Yasmin Rashid who were former provincial ministers.
• PP 203 ticket has been given to Syed Khawar Ali Shah who is a close relative of former Speaker National Assembly and Federal Minister Syed Fakhr Imam from Khanewal. He won the 2018 election as an independent candidate and joined the PTI. Even before this, he has been a member of the Punjab Assembly for several times.
• PP 217 ticket has been given to Zain Qureshi, son of Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi from Multan, who was elected Member of National Assembly and later Member of Provincial Assembly on PTI ticket.
• From PP 239 Bahawalnagar, ticket has been given to Shaukat Ali Lalika, who is a close relative of former federal minister and important leader of Muslim League-Nawaz Abdul Sattar Lalika and has been contesting elections on behalf of Muslim League-Nawaz in the past.
• PP 260 From Rahim Yar Khan, former provincial finance minister Hashim Jawan Bakht, who is the younger brother of former federal minister Khusro Bakhtiar, was given a ticket.
• PP 274 Jamshed Dasti from Muzaffargarh who has recently joined PTI has been given ticket.
• PP 286 Former Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has also been given tickets from Dera Ghazi Khan, while tickets have been given to tribal chiefs or their relatives from Leh, Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur constituencies.

How were the candidates selected?

Additional Secretary General PTI South Punjab Sikander Fayyaz Bhadira while talking to Independent Urdu said: ‘This time the party neither asked for ticket applications nor asked for any fee for the tickets because in this way from every constituency. About 15 to 20 applications would have been received due to which conflicts would have arisen.’

He said that ‘considering this situation, Chairman Imran Khan and the selection boards established by him shortlisted the candidates and Imran Khan personally issued the tickets.’

What questions were asked in the interview?

A PTI leader told Independent Urdu on the condition of anonymity that Imran Khan personally interviewed the candidates up to PP 118 but after that he could not do it due to lack of time. Candidates from South Punjab could not be interviewed due to ‘

He further said that ‘Imran Khan gave very interesting interviews in which he asked what you have done for the party in the past. If you are elected, what changes will you make in the constituency?’

Some of the questions from the candidates were about public information such as what will be the impact of the war between Ukraine and Russia on international politics and economy? What will be the effect on Pakistan after the restoration of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia? Etc. Etc.

The said leader continued and said that ‘Imran Khan himself finalized the name of each candidate and did not take pressure from anyone, like Muslim League Zia, which has now merged with PTI, had asked for three tickets. But they were given only one.’

According to political correspondent and analyst Majid Nizami, the list of candidates issued by PTI is a combination of traditional candidates and youth. ‘

According to him, “Among the hereditary candidates, Chaudhry Parvez Elahi and his son Chaudhry Munis Elahi got tickets, former Speaker Afzal Sahi and his son Ali Afzal Sahi have also been given tickets.”

Similarly, Ghulam Bibi Bharwana, who was a member of the National Assembly, and her mother also got tickets. Chaudhry Zaheeruddin’s nephew has got the ticket. There are many names in the list which show that Imran Khan has accommodated people in traditional politics.’

According to Majid Nizami, ‘PTI has also given a chance to the boys of Insaaf Student Federation and Youth Wing, which is welcome, but their number is not very large.’

He said, ‘In Lahore, most of the party workers who were town presidents like Asif Bhandar from PP 145 who was the president of Ravi Town were included. From pp 148 Abdul Karim Khan who was the President of Shalimar Town. Similarly, there is Malik Waqar from PP 146 whose ticket was left in 2018.

Majid said that ‘an allegation that was heard recently that many people have bought tickets by giving party funds, an example has come out that Mian Ibad Farooq from PP 149, which is a very unknown name. . This is the person who joined the party by paying one crore rupees, he has also been given ticket. Therefore, in my opinion, the audio leaks that were leaked regarding buying tickets by paying money are also being confirmed.

Continuing, Majid Nizami said, “Pakistan Muslim League-Q members of the Provincial Assembly were accommodated in Gujarat, Chakwal, Sialkot and Bahawalpur.”

According to Majid Nizami: ‘The candidates who have come forward in the cities are not so strong, it seems that the party believes that the election will be contested only on the popularity of Imran Khan. Now let’s see what the effect of this combination is because in constituency politics it is very important to sit in the constituency and work at the grass root level. Of course, even if the wave of popularity is going on, people still lose from the constituency, now the work done by sitting in the constituency depends on these candidates, how they do it.’